Spiritus Sanctus: The Arrival



"Mad, bad and sad," Old Alex said to his son as they sat at the Japanese restaurant by the marina. "Now I just avoid them."

Those drug addled crazies that infested the inner city streets and who he had once thought of as the only truly authentic people.

"You've always been fascinated by the gutter," an old sponsor had said, his cut glass voice cutting through. No tea and sympathy for you, dear boy.

The marina was such a departure from the lo so, low society place that Oak Flats had been for so many years, a lower working class suburb south of the then steel town of Wollongong. The million dollar houses. Expensive boxes. They paid to be amongst their own kind, away from the streets, away from the public housing projects, away from failure, chaos and unkindness, those adventures into the lower realms.  

The area had changed absolutely.

Australia or at least the Australian media was now consumed by the ritual rites of elections, where both sides of politics lied publicly in order to convince a disengaged, disenchanted and distrustful electorate to grant them power. 

It could still run either way.

Neither was seen as a good option.

The conservatives had been entirely incompetent in office, run up massive bills, mismanaged the Covid scare, refused to apologise for their bastardry, and continued to lie about just about everything. Or to pitch policies that were too complex, too nuanced, or too mealy mouthed to cut through. The left, on the other hand, had simply betrayed the country. A betrayal, a stain, which would impact for generations.

That was it. Lousy politics. Lousy choices. And oases of luxury as the wealth gap widened and widened.


MAINSTREAM HEADLINES

SKY NEWS

Liberal Senator for South Australia Alex Antic has taken a brutal swipe at Anthony Albanese as the Coalition continues to pile the pressure on the Prime Minister over his inability to secure further phone calls with US President Donald Trump. 

Mr Antic quipped during Friday night's Sky News Australia show The World According to Rowan Dean that Mr Albanese was possibly "not pressing the right buttons on the phone".

The sledge comes in the wake of Australia not being spared from Trump's Liberation Day tariffs, with local goods slapped with a "minimum baseline" of 10 per cent.

GUARDIAN AUSTRALIA

Albanese declares Chinese-controlled Port of Darwin should ‘be in Australian hands’

PM says two options on table: for an Australian-owned company to take control, or for port to return to being a government asset

ABC

A luxury rehabilitation facility that was operating on a property south of Sydney without council consent is closing down following community backlash. 

Highlands Recovery, owned by Paracelsus Health Pty Ltd, was offering tailored treatment programs for trauma, mental health issues and addiction at a cost of up to $25,000 a week. 

It operated out of a multimillion property on the outskirts of Bowral and applied to change the development application (DA) mid last year from an existing dwelling to a group home.

SBS

A luxury rehabilitation facility that was operating on a property south of Sydney without council consent is closing down following community backlash. 

Highlands Recovery, owned by Paracelsus Health Pty Ltd, was offering tailored treatment programs for trauma, mental health issues and addiction at a cost of up to $25,000 a week. 

It operated out of a multimillion property on the outskirts of Bowral and applied to change the development application (DA) mid last year from an existing dwelling to a group home.

NEWS

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s stewardship of the economy has coincided with slower home price rises than most other modern prime ministers – but housing costs relative to wages remain the least affordable in 30 years.

THE NEW DAILY

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese may have tumbled awkwardly off a stage on Thursday, but Opposition Leader Peter Dutton appears to have suffered an even bigger fall.

New polling shows Dutton’s approval rating among voters has plunged to its worst level since he became Coalition leader.

The first YouGov poll of this federal election shows Dutton’s satisfaction rating plummeting to -15. His net satisfaction among voters slumped by 10 points in the two weeks since the last YouGov poll was released on March 21.

MACRO BUSINESS

Trump tariffs to trigger house price boom


On Thursday, Australian time, the Trump Administration announced its “Liberation Day” retaliatory tariffs, which impose tariffs of between 10% and 48% on trading partners.

This will see the US’ effective tariff rate rise to its highest level in more than a century.

SPECTATOR AUSTRALIA

However, Albanese suddenly undermined these arrangements. He decided to ‘crowd out’ the two days of news and discussion allowed for Peter Dutton‘s reply with news about ‘Albanese calling the election’. So, even before the sun rose on Friday, an impatient Albanese was already ensconced in his chauffeur-driven limousine, heading for Yarralumla. That Governor-General Mostyn allowed her high office, an ancient politically impartial constitutional check and balance, to be tainted by association with this squalid trickery is, in my opinion, concerning.

CRIKEY

ABC chair slams Jeff Bezos over Washington Post endorsement saga

Kim Williams has hit out at Bezos over the billionaire’s move to block the Post from endorsing a candidate in the 2024 presidential election.


THE NIGHTLY

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has made the surprising decision to revisit the harsh pandemic border closures by suggesting that he would not want to see Australians locked out of the country ever again.

He was immediately urged to put his words into action and law to protect citizens from being stranded overseas again.

Mr Albanese raised the issue — unprompted — at a forum at the Blacktown Workers Club in Western Sydney on the Federal Election campaign trail on Friday.


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